Cargando…
Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations
Previous research suggests that desired end-states (i.e., goals) initiate a set of motivational processes supporting goal-attainment. For example, motivational intensity (e.g., effort investment) increases as distance to the goal decreases. The present studies investigate whether this goal-gradient...
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer US
2015
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764625/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26949276 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9527-5 |
_version_ | 1782417405593518080 |
---|---|
author | Becker, Daniela van der Pligt, Joop |
author_facet | Becker, Daniela van der Pligt, Joop |
author_sort | Becker, Daniela |
collection | PubMed |
description | Previous research suggests that desired end-states (i.e., goals) initiate a set of motivational processes supporting goal-attainment. For example, motivational intensity (e.g., effort investment) increases as distance to the goal decreases. The present studies investigate whether this goal-gradient can also be observed in chance determined situations, situations in which there is a desired end-state (i.e., winning) but in which increased effort investment does not support goal-attainment. Three studies provide consistent evidence for the goal-gradient in chance determined situations. We show that participants (in the lab and in a TV game show) invest more effort into goal-directed behavior the closer they get to the end of the game. The moderation of expectancy and value was, however, modest. Interestingly, participants’ self-reports suggest that their dynamic changes in behavior were unintentional and perceived as non-instrumental. Findings are related to theories of goal pursuit and illusory control, and contrasted to the principle of resource conservation, according to which such behavior should not occur. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4764625 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Springer US |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-47646252016-03-04 Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations Becker, Daniela van der Pligt, Joop Motiv Emot Original Paper Previous research suggests that desired end-states (i.e., goals) initiate a set of motivational processes supporting goal-attainment. For example, motivational intensity (e.g., effort investment) increases as distance to the goal decreases. The present studies investigate whether this goal-gradient can also be observed in chance determined situations, situations in which there is a desired end-state (i.e., winning) but in which increased effort investment does not support goal-attainment. Three studies provide consistent evidence for the goal-gradient in chance determined situations. We show that participants (in the lab and in a TV game show) invest more effort into goal-directed behavior the closer they get to the end of the game. The moderation of expectancy and value was, however, modest. Interestingly, participants’ self-reports suggest that their dynamic changes in behavior were unintentional and perceived as non-instrumental. Findings are related to theories of goal pursuit and illusory control, and contrasted to the principle of resource conservation, according to which such behavior should not occur. Springer US 2015-12-09 2016 /pmc/articles/PMC4764625/ /pubmed/26949276 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9527-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Becker, Daniela van der Pligt, Joop Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title | Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title_full | Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title_fullStr | Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title_full_unstemmed | Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title_short | Forcing your luck: Goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
title_sort | forcing your luck: goal-striving behavior in chance situations |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764625/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26949276 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9527-5 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT beckerdaniela forcingyourluckgoalstrivingbehaviorinchancesituations AT vanderpligtjoop forcingyourluckgoalstrivingbehaviorinchancesituations |